{"id":1097,"date":"2009-03-13T11:44:21","date_gmt":"2009-03-13T19:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/2009\/03\/13\/is-there-merit-in-merit-pay\/"},"modified":"2009-03-13T11:44:21","modified_gmt":"2009-03-13T19:44:21","slug":"is-there-merit-in-merit-pay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/1097\/is-there-merit-in-merit-pay\/","title":{"rendered":"Is There Merit in Merit Pay?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jill Chapin<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

March 13, 2009<\/p>\n

President Obama is ready to talk merit pay for teachers. He says this because he believes that the most important factor in a child’s success in school is the person standing at the front of the classroom.<\/p>\n

I disagree. The most important factor in a child’s success at school is strong, loving parental control at home. Hopefully, the president will continue to unabashedly address the increasing abdication of parents who allow teachers to bear the brunt of blame for failing to educate their kids.<\/p>\n

No amount of money awarded to excellent teachers can undo the deleterious effects of a bad home life that accompanies kids into the classroom. You can’t wake up a child who watched TV until midnight, or make him pay attention when he wasn’t given dinner the night before, or make him concentrate after watching mom and dad fighting, or missing a dad he never knew. No teacher can break through a drug or alcohol-induced haze when trying to teach algebra. No teacher can hold a student accountable for obscene language and violence without the full cooperation of parents to discipline.<\/p>\n

He is right about the state of our schools. They are deplorable by anyone’s measure. And I’m glad he’s ready to do something big. His call for more charter schools is a good start, even if it’s only for those who get in, because those who do are usually more motivated, along with their parents, than those in traditional schools.<\/p>\n

His position on merit pay, however, warrants closer scrutiny if merit pay is based on student achievement rather than teacher achievement. If he means to base it on teachers who take advanced courses, or get advanced degrees, then that is a solid, objective basis for merit pay.<\/p>\n

But basing teacher pay on such gossamer goals as student progress, academic achievement and performance demonstration is problematic. How do you measure and define achievement and performance? Consider the following:<\/p>\n

– When teachers teach to the standardized tests, their students are simply taught to answer certain questions. Does this measure real learning?<\/p>\n

– Grades cannot be a useful gauge because they are so inflated as to be rendered nearly meaningless.<\/p>\n

– If pay is based on student performance, do teachers in advanced classes get a higher salary than those who teach special needs children? Will a teacher be penalized for lower grades by students who are chronically absent? Will they get some leeway for less instruction time due to behavioral classroom disruptions?<\/p>\n

– Test scores and dropout rates can be altered by administrators. California students are required to pass the Test of Essential Skills in order to earn a high school diploma. A local school gave diplomas to failing students anyway so they would not appear on the school’s dropout list. So with tongue in cheek, keep in mind that when California brags that 87% of our states’ students complete four years of high school, 64.7% of all statistics are made up.<\/p>\n

– The suggestion of offering higher salaries to math and science teachers might seem valid upon first blush. But what about those students who are hopelessly math and science-challenged even with the best of teachers? Should higher salaries maybe go to those who teach vocational training classes so those students could be adequately prepared for a job upon graduation? Could it be that all qualified teachers deserve good salaries?<\/p>\n

Basing teachers’ salary on their competence while ignoring a staggering level of parental incompetence is wasteful folly. Beware of merit pay based on easily-inflatable student performance statistics. Continuing to throw more money at the educational system while allowing parents to continue to abdicate their responsibility reminds me of something Albert Einstein once said:<\/p>\n

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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